


only fools fall

by btichcraft



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Pining, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, bc theyre annoying, hope and josie were in love, josie and landon are together for most of the fic, no malivore monsters, post 1.16, slowest of burns, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24285862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/btichcraft/pseuds/btichcraft
Summary: Hope and Josie were in love before she jumped into the pit to save all her friends, now that she's back Josie has a boyfriend and wants nothing to do with her.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Landon Kirby/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	only fools fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( this chapter has been rewritten as of 11.25.20 )

Hope has been walking for what feels like forever.

Of course, Malivore couldn’t spit her out close to the Salvatore School or even Mystic Falls, for that matter. Instead, Hope woke up in the middle of nowhere, an hour away from her room and, most importantly, her girlfriend. 

A quick locator spell to confirms Josie is, in fact, at the school and not in Europe with her mom— thank god. 

After spending the past four months in Malivore, she wants nothing more than to embrace her girlfriend, breathe in her scent, and fall asleep together in her bed.

Malivore was hell— literally. Everything the monsters said was true, from the eternal darkness to the bone-crushing silence. The only thing different for her was the loneliness; instead of solitude and isolation, she was trapped with monsters and Clarke of all people. His twisted smile still makes her sick to her stomach, she’s glad he’s gone along with the rest of Malivore.

Hope is pretty sure she closed Malivore, or at least the portal. When she woke up, it wasn’t next to a pit of mud, but soft grass in the middle of a meadow. No portal, no monsters, it’s as easy as that— a job well done if you ask her. 

And she didn’t even have to die.

Her feet are really starting to hurt. Heeled boots are not made for walking in the woods and down dirt roads. Luckily, she’s finally made it to the woods surrounding the Salvatore School, and the dot indicating Josie’s location is right ahead. 

As she gets closer, she can hear the sound of a projector humming with the quiet noises of the woods at night. 

Lizzie and Josie are probably having a movie night at the Old Mill to celebrate the end of the summer, she thinks. 

But when she gets there, it isn’t Lizzie and Josie, but Jo and Landon and Hope has a feeling it’s not just a movie night because they’re definitely kissing. 

The sight knocks the air straight out of her chest; she can’t breathe.

Hope never expected to make it out of Malivore alive, that’s why she asked Dr. Saltzman to burn every trace of her— to make sure no one she loved would miss her. She didn’t want Josie to feel the pain of losing someone she loved, or Lizzie lose her best friend, and it’s obvious he did as she asked, or Josie wouldn’t be here lip-locked with Landon. 

Of course, Hope thought about what would happen to Jo once she died. She hoped Josie would move on and find someone new to love, someone to make her happy— Hope just never wanted to see it for herself. 

With her queasy stomach and heavy chest, Hope decides to head to campus; she can’t look at them anymore, or she might break. 

For a moment, she considers hopping on a bus and ditching town, maybe for New Orleans or perhaps somewhere entirely new and just start over. It’s not like anyone will miss her. But deep down, she knows that’s not fair to her friends and, most importantly, herself. 

Her feet ache along with her heart, but she powers through the woods and straight to the front door. Hope manages to pull herself together the best she can these past few minutes and tries to focus on the task at hand— finding the spare key.

Dorian isn’t the best or most discreet when it comes to hiding things, so Hope really only has two options as to where the spare would be: underneath the cute frog welcome statue or somewhere under a fake rock.

She goes with the fake rock.

It’s not hard to find the rock out of place; It’s giant and oddly colored compared to the rest of the rocks and gravel in the flowerbed. Hope laughs to herself as she picks it up and unlocks the door. 

Instantly she’s flooded with memories, like a punch to the gut.

Hope has lived here for years, this was her home, and Malivore made her miss it more than anything in the world. It isn’t just her dorm room of nine years or the school itself that made it home— it’s the people. It’s an unspoken thing at the Salvatore School, something everyone knows, that even though they come from different backgrounds and may not get along all the time, they are a family. A mismatched and unconventional family but a family just the same. 

Not only does her family at the Salvatore School not know she exists, but her family in New Orleans too. 

Thinking of her aunts and uncle and how confused they must be with all the photos of them together and an empty room in their house. Hope wishes she would’ve told them about Malivore before she jumped. Maybe Freya could’ve found a spell to bring back their memories, and all of this pain could be avoided. But she didn’t, and now they’re lost to her too. 

Tears start welling in her eyes as she traces over the walls and paintings as she walks into the front room. Hope can’t help but stare at the grand fireplace in the middle of the room, a place where she shared a dance with her good friend Rafael once. God, she misses him too.

“No, you’re here for a reason,” Hope tells herself as she wipes a rouge tear. 

She turns on her heel, heading down the hall to Dr. Saltzman’s office. Hopefully, he’ll still be up at this hour; he usually is.

As she gets closer, she can see the light from his office seeping through to the hall from his cracked door. Hope takes a deep breath and wipes her eyes, taking a moment to compose herself before knocking. 

She pushes open the door, not waiting for a response; Alaric doesn’t look up from his book.

“Josie, you’re back early. I wasn’t expecting you for another hour or so.”

Hope clears her throat to get his attention. 

He meets her eyes, and panic rushes in. He quickly grabs the crossbow she knows he has hidden under his desk and points it directly at Hope. 

She raises her hands just as fast to show she’s not a threat. It takes a second but lowers his weapon but never taking his eyes off her. 

“Who are you?” he asks, looking at her suspiciously. As Hope goes to lower her hands, he raises the crossbow again. The sight of her once father figure, pointing a weapon at her brings tears to her eyes. 

Alaric’s expression softens as Hope works up the courage to say what she needs to, but never lowering his crossbow.

“I know you don’t remember this,” she’s struggling to hold back tears. “But I’m Hope Mikaelson— Klaus and Hayley’s daughter. And I’m the one that went into the pit.”

Alaric’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion, “How is that even possible?”

“One of nature’s loopholes, I guess,” she tries to laugh, but the tears keep coming. “I was made to stop Malivore.”

They sit in silence for a second; Hope prays at that moment that he’ll believe her. She’s lost so much already tonight; she can’t lose any more. He finally lowers his crossbow, setting it on his desk but not taking his hand off it.

“You were a student here?” he asks, leaning forward in his chair.

Hope nods.

“Why isn’t there a record of you? I checked all my files after we found Landon alone at the pit; there were no students unaccounted for.”

“I made you promise to burn it all before I jumped. I didn’t want anyone to mourn me. You guys didn’t deserve that pain.”

He sits back in his chair, finally taking his hand off the crossbow and folding them in his lap.

“So, Hope Mikaelson,” he starts. “Tell me everything, starting with how you escaped.”

. . .

“The whole world has forgotten that I exist, and I have absolutely no idea what to do next.” 

He sighs, seemingly moved by her plight, and takes a step closer, “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out together.”

Hope feels like a weight is lifted from her shoulder, and overwhelmed with emotions, she can’t help but pull him into a hug. Going a day dead to the world has really taken a toll on her in ways she didn’t expect, but she better get used to it. 

They pull apart as the door opens. Hope turns, facing away from the door to wipe her tears. 

“Dad?”

Hope whips around at the sound of her voice, a voice she’d no anywhere: Josie. 

She meets Josie’s eyes hoping that by some chance she’ll recognize her or feel something, but instead, she’s met with confusion. And by her side— Landon.

“We were just coming in to say goodnight…” she trails off. “Who’s this?”

Hope feels her heart sink yet again. Logically she knows Josie doesn’t remember her and probably never will, but she craves things to be like they were before she jumped into the pit.

She wants to pull Josie close and never let go.

“This is Hope,” Alaric puts a hand on Hope’s shoulder, and she musters up a small wave. “She’s going to be a new student this fall.”

Josie instantly lights up and extends her hand to Hope. 

“Well, in that case, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Josie, and if you ever need anything— finding your way around school or help navigating the cliques, I’m your girl.”

Hope picks up her hand, and her body instantly warms up to her touch, all the memories of what happened in the woods long gone. She doesn’t want to let go, but in the end, she has to. 

“I’m in dorm 23, with my sister—well, twin,” She says.

“Me too!” Landon starts. “Well, not the dorm or twin thing. We don’t share a room or anything, haha. That would be weird…that would be weird, right?”

It’s nice to see Landon hasn’t changed, still as awkward as ever. Josie seems to find it charming as he laughs and threads their hands together. 

Hope gives them a fake smile despite the tears threatening to fall. 

Josie and Landon leave with a final wave and smile, their hands clasped together. As soon as they close the door, Hope can’t help her tears. Today is easily the most she’s cried since her parents died, and it doesn’t take Alaric much time to notice she’s crying again. 

“There’s more you aren’t telling me.”

Hope sits down and prepares herself; Alaric does the same.

“We were in love,” Hope pauses. “Crazy, epic love if that even exists.”

He looks up as if to ask who she means.

“I think she’s my soulmate. I know that may sound silly, but in my heart, I know it’s true. I haven’t loved anyone in my life like I love her. Josie is it for me, and I was it for her, but now it seems that’s all over.”

“I thought jumping into Malivore would make life better for everyone, Josie included. I never dreamed I’d come back and never once thought what would happen if I did. I’m glad she had him while I was gone. I can’t imagine what it would be like being alone in this big school all summer. She deserves to be happy, but that doesn’t change the hurt in my chest.”

Alaric sighs and rubs his face trying to absorb the information. 

“Are you going to tell them?” 

“I don’t know…” Hope trails off with a sigh. “They just look so happy.”

“They are, but from what you said, it seems she was happier with you.” he raises an eyebrow. 

“I just don’t want her to hate me.”

“I think you owe it to yourself and Josie to tell her you’re back. To tell everyone you’re back.” 

Hope nods, he’s right… she hates it, but he usually is. 

“I’ll tell them when school starts again, we can have an assembly, make a party out of it.” She laughs, trying to lighten the mood and not dwell in the unpleasant atmosphere she just created.

Alaric doesn’t buy it, and neither does Hope. She still feels absolutely terrible. But this has to be done; even if Josie hates her, it’s better than lying to her every day until graduation. A small part of her has hope that things may change, and they can be together again, but at the end of the day, Hope was still definitely a pessimist. 

Hope can tell Dr. Saltzman doesn’t agree with her plan and probably prefers she marches down to Josie’s room and tell her here and now. Hope wishes she could too.

But she isn’t strong enough, at least not yet. The memories of Josie and Landon kissing are fresh in her brain, and the pain she feels is still very real.

It’s hard to rationalize it in her mind— that this Josie isn’t her Josie. This Josie has been alone these past four months, with Landon being her only comfort, and Hope can’t blame her. 

It’s not fair to be upset with someone who doesn’t even know you even exist.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter @josettcs :)


End file.
